For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
Titus 1:10,11
I hope that your life is filled with happiness and joy. And a big part of that is being surrounded by people that love you. They care for you. No matter what, their face lights up and they smile when they see you. For no reason at all, they just pick up the phone and call to see how you’re doing.
And then we all have those other kind of people. You know who I’m talking about. The people that hurt you deeply sometime in the past and they just don’t seem to care about you or that hurt. You could be having a great day and then your brain takes a left turn. Those memories start to flood back, and all that good feeling is overrun with pain and sadness.
You might be in the middle of a crowd; you might be at a party and having a great time together. But all of a sudden, when those memories reappear, loneliness overwhelms you like a flood. It doesn’t matter that lots of people are all around, you feel like you’re out somewhere in the middle of a giant parking lot with no one in sight, and your car won’t start.
It may be surprising to you, but the Apostle Paul had people just like this in his life. The guy who wrote all about love[1] had people in his life that just made him mad. He might have said the truth that love was patient and kind, but there were people in his life who’d worn out their welcome with him.
Paul even had an expression for them. He called them the “especially those” people. You see, people are all over the place when it comes to how they connect with us and our lives. But the “especially those” kind of people have done more hurt, brought more pain than anyone else.
For Paul, the “especially those” people were the circumcision group. Now, just to be sure that we’re all on the same page, they weren’t just saying that circumcision was a good option. Or that it was more healthy option for men. Oh no. They were really blunt about their feelings and beliefs. “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.[2]”
The circumcision group was trying to make Christianity just like every other religion on the face of the earth. You see, they said that faith in Jesus wasn’t enough. His death on the cross couldn’t take away all our sins, so we had to pitch in. We had to do something because God couldn’t take care of sin on his own.
Some people might think that this one thing wasn’t all that important. After all, the Christian faith was new and small. They needed all the help and friends they could get. Why not let there be some compromise here. It was sure to bring in new members and lots of money.
But Paul’s reached what I call his Popeye moment[3] when he says, “That’s all I can stands. I can’t stands no more.” When it comes to complete and full forgiveness of sins, there’s only one way. Jesus’ death on the cross paid for all our sins; past, present, and future. This means that there’s nothing more to do.
These “especially those” people said that to fully be forgiven, to become a child of God, that you had to do something. Somehow, the death of Jesus wasn’t enough, so we have to step in and do what God couldn’t.
Maybe you’ve never heard it explained exactly like that before. You’ve heard that Jesus died for sin, but you never thought about it in terms of daily life. If Jesus did die once for all our sin, then it’s done. It’s over. That’s why Jesus could say at the end of his life, hanging on the cross, “It is finished[4].”
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8,9
This is how put it. We become reunited back with God all because of grace through faith. Grace is God reaching out to us and dying on the cross. Faith is our accepting and receiving who God is and what he’s done for us.
Once we start to get ahold of this truth, then everything changes. Instead of blaming God and people for everything, we start to turn in thanksgiving to God. And why? Because he’s taken care of our most desperate problem.
It can even begin to soften our heart towards the “especially those” people in our life. If God could save and change us, what’s to stop him from doing the same to them?
Noodling Questions
What do you do when these memories come flashing up in your brain?
Describe one of your “Popeye moments.”
How can we move from blaming God to thanksgiving?
[1] 1 Corinthians 13
[2] Acts 15:1
[4] John 19:30
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